Months have been spent planning a wedding, meetings with people to see who shares your photography or styling vision, tasting cake after cake, touring venues to find the one and planning the time down to the minute to ensure you have enough time for photos but are not spending too much time away from your guests.  Then in the week before the wedding, the weather people decide that there is going to be thunderstorms with a chance of hail on your wedding day, in MARCH!

Perth people are guilty of conveniently forgetting that it is not 30+ degrees and sunny every day of the year, although in the height of summer we are longing for some winter weather, we forget that we do have some wild weather at the weirdest times (we all remember the great hail storm of 2010, there are still some dented cars driving around out there).  With all the planning we don't actually think of planning for a rainy day set-up.

After shooting on the weekend in Kings Park and surviving (actually I was quite warm in thermals under my wedding outfit and my hiking wet weather gear over the top, bought for my New Zealand hike and not needed as it was 30 and sunny everyday!) I decided to share some tips and images from weddings where the weather is not complying, just in case.

Of course you still want to stick to the original plan but if the weather is a off in the week leading up to your wedding day, I suggest you talk with your wedding coordinator to what you can do to make the wedding work regardless of the rain without damping the event. 

Wineries often have an area they can clear for a ceremony like Sandalford, some parks in Perth have pavillions to house guests and even trees can provide a bit of shelter for the milder, rainy days.

For your wedding portraits, find some light or clear umbrellas on your wedding day, this way you are not in a shadow created by the umbrella on the darker, rainy days and you can have some cute, under an umbrella kissing shot!

There are a few spots around Perth that have areas that are a little undercover for rainy wedding photos, the most popular being UWA...

But there are only so many umbrella shots or wedding crowds at UWA that you can handle, so think about looking at contacting a funky bar or café and see if they would let you and your bridal party stop by for a drink, some warmth and a few photos. Some bars that have been more than helpful over the years are Five Bar in Mt Lawley, the Belgium Bar on King Street in Perth, the Como Pub, The Flour Factory in Perth and Moore and Moores in Fremantle. Remember to ring to let them know that your photographer will be tagging along as some bars do have restrictions on photography.

Prepare for winter weddings by packing some cute gumboots and a shawl or a gorgeous Alannah Hill cardigan in with the lipgloss and champagne...

Finally trust in your photographer and embrace the rain because together you could get some amazing rainy day shots that not many other people will have hanging on their walls (especially in Perth!)

And remember this is Perth, the number of days that do not have any sunlight coming through at some point can be counted on one hand!!!